It seems the Town of Barrhead councillors may have hit a nerve when they decided to replace the traffic lights at the intersection of 51 Avenue and 50 Street with a four-way stop.
At least if our Facebook page is any indication.
Scrolling through the growing list of comments I think it is safe to say the vast majority of people are against the decision — and I guess I would be one of them.
To refresh readers memories, the main reason why they decided to do this is cost. Because of their age, the lights were becoming increasingly more expensive to maintain because of the lack of available parts and even then there would be a time when it would become impossible to continue to buy scavenge, machine or jerry-rig parts to keep the lights in operation.
Replacing the lights with their modern equivalent would also be costly. The town has not said how much new traffic lights would run, but from my previous stops, I suspect it would be at least six figures.
Yes, council could have decided to keep the lights until they failed altogether, but this solution is also far from perfect, they decided to convert the intersection to a four-way stop on their timetable.
Certainly understandable, because as mayor Dave McKenzie noted, you don’t want to be doing any type of construction work when it is -30C.
It is also something I am surprised previous councils did not decide to tackle because I agree with mayor Dave McKenzie when he says the current lights are a safety hazard, the first and foremost being because of their position.
I have been driving more than 30 years and have lived in or visited many small towns, some of which were smaller than Barrhead, and all of them had the traditional traffic lights over the driving lanes. The fact that ours are on the lampost on the side of the street is something that should have been addressed long ago.
Driver’s don’t expect and are not looking for traffic lights on the side of lampposts.
I know, as an outsider visiting Barrhead, I inadvertently blew through a red light. I certainly can’t be the only one.
Then there is the lack of pedestrian signals. I can’t count the times I have been caught crossing the street when the signal changes which is also a safety concern as the lights don’t have the same delay built into them before switching.
So the question is whether a four-way stop is not only a safe alternative but will not cause other traffic issues, such as congestion. Council believes so as does Stony Plain who also has gone the stop sign route.
As I said before colour me skeptical, but time will tell.
